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<div class=”pricing-history”>Not something I’m familiar with but that Worthpoint hound sold<span class=”label”> for</span> $<span id=”priceSpan” class=”result price”>295.00 on August 8, 2014.</span> I haven’t had much luck with large Hollywood Regency decor items but you never know.</div>
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</div>Do you like the new listing experience (other than video)?
No. I tried the beta for less than a day early last year, I think it was, and quickly switched back. I thought it was awful. To fit everything on a phone they hid all the data inputs on pull-down menus on multiple pages, IIRC. So it took me twice as long to create a listing on a desktop than it previously did when everything was on one page. I did not try a video. I’m not a fan unless you need to show something operating. It’s just one more thing to distract buyers from actually reading the description and condition, not to mention the extra time it takes to make one.
Kind of all over the map. There are these two:
Then earlier this one from the ’60s sold for $787.50 in March, 2021:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/paul-vigil-original-watercolor-3825666632
I’ve been real busy lately with matters keeping me from eBay as is typical for me each year from December into February. I really need to dive back in. Here are some sales from late last year:
This consignment challenge coin is from the 2-star Rear Admiral (Upper Half) Commander of the US Coast Guard’s 11th District, an area encompassing the four states of the Pacific West and Southwest. It sold for $33 plus shipping.
I think the expression on this sailor’s face sold this real photo studio postcard from the WWI era. It was part of a gun show lot that has been long paid for. It sold for $23 and although I only charged for the eBay Standard Card shipping label, it’s not available when the item sells for over $20. I could have used enough stamps but decided to use First Class Mail Package to get tracking since the buyer was new to eBay and the card label would have provided tracking (albeit sometimes unreliable).
I found this very interesting press kit from a 1979 24-hour Daytona auto race at the now-closed St Augustine Flea Market for $5. The original recipient of the kit started to take notes on it during the race but it looks like they did not stay for the whole thing. No doubt they weren’t up for napping on a cot in the press box to get through it all. The kit sold for $41 plus shipping on an outgoing best offer. It is amazing to me that there are still, to this day, 24-hour auto races.
I came across a decent lot of Canadian post cards a while back and in the course of researching them learned that there is interest in the industrial heartland. Here’s a real photo card of a pulp mill in in British Columbia that sold for $20 plus $2.75 shipping for a stamped stiff envelope to Canada.
This bayonet is for the Belgian FN Model 1949 rifle that was exported to the militaries of a number of countries in Africa and South American into the early 1960’s and stayed in use into the 1980’s. Its distinctive double edged blade is unusual for 20th century bayonet design but is similar to earlier Belgian bayonets of the 1920’s. An eBay snipe for $63 several years ago, it sold for $160 plus shipping.
ups usually beats FedEx on rates now
I am definitely finding that to be true, sometimes significantly. It used to be just the reverse. I’ve been trying to go back in on larger items and switch them to UPS.
If you just straight up pass all the savings on every service, the big con is that you will lose money on shipping after eBay fees.
Also true. So I like to pass on the savings on every service to get that competitive advantage shipping from Florida but then add on a handling fee. A minimum of .50 on domestic and $1 on foreign; adding more for larger items that will cost more to ship. The discounts are so hefty with most services that the buyer still sees it as less than retail.
+1 what Jay says. That Brookhaven guy has been trying to sell out for a while. I see some possible hidden gems in there (for example if some of those US badges are sterling, but they probably aren’t or he’d have sold them individually already) but almost everything I see in all the photos is longest of long tail. Looking at the listing photos, I see many multiples of badges, pins, stickers, and patches that I could MAYBE sell one a year. It would take 20 years to sell everything I see. For example, I see several boxes of NIP Venezuelan jump wings. The last one of those to sell on eBay was in 2020 and there are 4 or 5 always for sale. That visible notebook page of challenge coins looks like all Army coins; the ones I can make out are $10 – $20 coins and not hot sellers.
Reading between the lines of the listing and looking at many of the specific items, this is obviously stuff that didn’t sell from 1960 – 1999 in a storefront and again from 2018 to now on eBay. If I were to go look at it, I’d walk through and pick out single specific items that will sell within a reasonable time for at least $50, adding up $5 each in my head as I pick through and that’s all I’d pay for the entire lot. I’ll bet it’d be less than $200.
Your system is pure gold, Retro, thanks for laying it out. It also will work for similar commodity items such as DVDs. I always wrestle with whether to offer free shipping, though, since many sellers in these categories do. My theory is that some buyers are attracted by the low item price and pretty much ignore the shipping charge, but many buyers really like free shipping and are sensitive to shipping charges.
Of course, SL has taught me to resist free shipping as much as possible. But if I run across one of these items that I think really needs free shipping (because there are many solds and 100% of them are free ship), I’ll offer it but if it’s a DVD or recorded cassette I ship Media Mail which is $3.19 for up to a pound going anywhere domestic. There have been rumors and complaints about USPS being persnickity about Media Mail, though, and opening packages to check the contents. So, I write “SOUND RECORDINGS” or “VIDEO RECORDINGS” on the package in Sharpie. Can’t hurt and it might help avoid delays.
I have 3 eBay IDs on one spreadsheet. It works great. For each ID/store you can set it to download only sales, only purchases, or both. I have 2 selling-only IDs and 1 buying-only ID so that’s very helpful.
For a spreadsheet, I really like EasyAuctionsTracker and have been using it for years. It links to eBay to allow you to download 90% of the data you need in a single click. It can only pick up like 60 or 90 days back in a download, though, so it’s too late to use it for 2021.
I’ve had a few lost items over time. Most recently I cancelled and then found the item the same day, as you did. That has happened to me before! Lesson learned is after the first session of frantic searching and you think you’ve looked everywhere, don’t cancel the sale yet but take a break and go do something else. Come back to it later and try again before giving up and cancelling the sale.
Merry Christmas Day to all! @Steven I wanted to mention last week that I get such FOMO when I see your stereo equipment sell but I have to remind myself of the expertise you’ve developed over the years and the work and care you put into it to get where you are. We really appreciate you sharing it with us.
So let’s see what I had go out the door a while back that I haven’t mentioned yet. Here’s a good BOLO for anyone taking a closer look at any challenge coins they run across in the wild: A US Navy coin with a 4 star flag indicating full admiral rank, and with the admiral’s full name as manufactured. A consignment, it sold for $49 plus shipping.
We’ve lamented how it’s gotten harder to buy inventory at a viable price point. I try to look for items that are not well-known to be desirable, such as college-themed items from obscure institutions. Long tail, but consistent sellers for me. This exceedingly uninteresting 1973 book on Hollins College (now Hollins University in Roanoke VA) was .50 at an estate sale and sold for $26 plus shipping.
I love the postcards but they are almost always long tail for me. I’m probably pushing it with my asking prices. Another Great White Fleet ship Waterman card, this one the USS South Carolina, circa 1914, the lead ship in her class of short-lived dreadnought battleships. (Yes, Antique Frog, the US Navy class named after the Royal Navy’s 1906 HMS Dreadnought.) It sold for $13 plus shipping at eBay’s Standard Envelope for cards rate.
Here’s another mid-90’s ship’s plaque off the I-love-me wall, this from the USS Vella Gulf, a guided missile cruiser. It sold for $66 plus shipping on an offer out.
This Korium knife in broken, dug-up condition is an example of cheap knives sold mail order from ads in the back of Popular Mechanics etc. during the ‘50’s and ’60’s. Part of a large free lot, it was a quick and easy sale at $10 plus shipping.
Here’s one of the ads. Those of us of a certain age may remember them well.
My wife tended to a bit of kleptomania on her travels for work when she was younger, coming back with bar-hopping souvenirs including logo glasses, mugs, and paper coasters. Lots of them. Here’s one lot of 30 German, Polish, Swiss, and Czech beer coasters that sold for $19 plus shipping. A while back a prospective buyer messaged me something to the effect of “I’m interested, but those photos aren’t taken on a floor, are they?” I replied yes, but that floor was a lot cleaner than the bars where the coasters originally came from. Of course I never heard back from them, but the lot did sell to someone else soon enough.
I think I could have gotten more for it…
Still a great sale! Thanks for letting us know how it turned out.
We are interested and we do care! Great to see you back and thanks for letting us know.
These are really old prices.
